The IT Crowd – X “The Internet is Coming” Review

Three years ago The IT Crowd aired its fourth series and most fans agree that it was poor. The last episode (before The Internet is Coming), Reynholm vs. Reynholm was appalling and so when writer Graham Linehan announced the show would be returning for a valedictory special, I had reservations. But all doubt was quashed last night when the series bid farewell in ebullient style.

I get rather emotional when a series that I love comes to an end and when Moss turned the light off in that little basement, realisation washed over me. That was the end of The IT Crowd; there will be no more (tragically, the final line was “let’s just stop” spoken by Linehan himself). The Internet is Coming begins as an episode that could easily be placed in one of the better seasons – perhaps season three when the show fully embraced modernity and began to include references to Facebook (under the guise of ‘Friendface’); references that could potentially date it. There were a lot of ideas packed into the generous fifty minutes: Jen’s flirting with the barista, Moss’ dearth in confidence, Roy’s ‘trouble’ with small people and Douglas’ appearance on Secret Millionaire and unfortunately, on the other side it comes out a bit jumbled. Jen has always been the main character – it was her that we started with way back in Denholm’s office in Yesterday’s Jam – so it was her storyline, the scandal with the homeless woman that took centre stage. It was very funny but very convoluted. The Internet is Coming as a whole was fairly ridiculous even for The IT Crowd but with this episode being the series’ swansong, I can forgive the implausibility of it all. I’ve noticed that whenever the final episode of a show airs the reviews are always very lenient. I’m going to jump the bandwagon here and do the same. The Internet is Coming isn’t perfect but it’s far from the worst the show has produced.

The one thing that I have always admired about The IT Crowd is its ability to interweave all the plot strands an episode packs. At the beginning we had Douglas discussing a line of vans with novelty breasts attached to the front with his “perfumed porno vampire” friend, Roy complaining about the barista with dwarfism and Jen accidentally putting coins in a tramp’s coffee cup; three completely random events in The Internet is Coming that were all tied together when Jen threw coffee at the tramp whereupon Roy was confronted by the barista who subsequently got hit by a van with novelty breasts. It’s moments like these when I really appreciate The IT Crowd and Graham Linehan’s humour for that matter, his other shows like Father Ted and Count Arthur Strong all have similar jokes.

Verdict: 8/10

The Internet is Coming was a bit of a mixed bag and there’s a bit of a quality over quantity argument to be had; Linehan shoehorns in an abundance of ideas that never really come to fruition because each one is fighting to be heard and expanded upon. Still I’m going to be foolishly unprofessional and give The Internet is Coming a higher rating than I should do because it’s the end and the moment has really been prepared for.